New College student headed to Germany

By Rachel S. OHara
| 4:00 a.m. July 21, 2011

Ryan Tisdale is one of six Fulbright Scholars this year at New College. Tisdale will leave in September for Seewiesen, Germany, to begin his year-long research project.

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Ryan Tisdale, 22, graduated a few months ago from New College with a biology and ecology degree, but unlike many of his classmates, he is not looking for an internship or a job — or even applying to graduate schools.

But he does have a plan.

Tisdale will be leaving at the beginning of September for Germany to conduct a year-long research project as a Fulbright Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, in Seewiesen, Germany.

In 2007, Tisdale had traveled to Panama for a few weeks to work as an assistant on New College alumni Bryson Voirin’s project, which studied the sleep patterns of sloths in the wild. During that time, Tisdale became fascinated with working with wild animals in their natural habitats. While there, he also worked with Dr. Niels Rattenborg, a professor at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology.

“I knew they (the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology) already were working on other projects with urban and rural blackbirds, so I thought maybe I could run a study on their sleep patterns,” said Tisdale. “They are the only institute in the world that actually studies and works with animals in their natural habitat rather than just in a lab.”

Rattenborg agreed to be Tisdale’s Fulbright adviser and also informed him that the scientists at the institute had wanted to run a sleep study on blackbirds but had not had the time to start another study. Tisdale’s goal seemed to be a perfect fit.

Tisdale is one of six students from New College named this year as Fulbright Scholars. Another student, Adam Bresnahan, will also be in Germany but closer to Berlin rather than Munich, like Tisdale. The other New College students will be in Namibia, Taiwan, Mexico and Russia.

“I’m excited, but it is a little scary in some ways to be responsible for a research project,” Tisdale said. “It’s scary, but at the same time it is a good progression from doing a lot of assistantships and working under other people. It should be a fun challenge.”

Contact Rachel O’Hara at [email protected].